Pete Townshend has explained that My Generation, The Who's breakthrough 1965 single, was born as much from anger at wealth and class privilege as from youthful rebellion. Although the song is best remembered for its defiant "hope I die before I get old" refrain, Townshend later revealed that the line stemmed from his discomfort at being treated dismissively by wealthy neighbours after he moved into an affluent London district, making the track a pointed reaction to class and power rather than simply a generational anthem.

The song's title was drawn from a more highbrow source: Townshend has said he was influenced by Generations, a collection by the socialist playwright David Mercer. Speaking in 1983, he recalled being "treated very strangely on the street, in an imperious way" by residents of the wealthy area he lived in, and said it was this sense of being "confronted with money and the class system and power" that fed directly into the song, fusing intellectual inspiration with raw personal disgust to create one of The Who's most enduring hits.